


Love notes and orange roses

by Smart_heart



Category: Hilda (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Valentine’s Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 01:22:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22735543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smart_heart/pseuds/Smart_heart
Summary: Maven receives an anonymous love declaration on Valentine’s Day.Or, the one in which the librarian is a clueless lesbian and Johanna is slightly less clueless
Relationships: Johanna | Hilda's Mum/The Librarian (Hilda)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 50





	Love notes and orange roses

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I’m aware that this came out late. Yes I’m aware that I have many wips.
> 
> No, that won’t stop me from posting this completely useless piece of fluff

She had completely forgotten the date. 

Valentine’s Day had never meant much to her. No one in her family was used to celebrating it, so, not without reason, she forgot it was coming. 

She, however, had her attention brought to the fact when she was getting ready to close off the library. She had been putting a few books back in place when a small piece of paper fell from between the pages of an illustrated book on botany. Maven let out a small hum of surprise before crouching down and picking the paper up. She had imagined it would be some sort of makeshift bookmark that one of the library’s patrons had forgotten inside the book, but, to her surprise, there was a small text written with a blue pen and a clear handwriting in it. And it was directed at her.

 _Dear Maven,_ it said, _I hope that when you find this, it will still be Valentine’s Day. And I ask that you forgive me, because even though I’m completely smitten with everything about you, I don’t have the courage to tell you this, at least not until I know more about you. But I won’t let this stop me from letting you know that, on this Valentine’s Day, someone is thinking about you._

The librarian rolled her eyes. If she was being honest to herself, the letter was quite cute, but there was only one person from whom she’d like to receive a love declaration, and everything about their relationship hinted that she didn’t want anything other than friendship.

Instantly, Maven’s cell phone vibrated with a message from said person, and she smiled as she took it from her skirt’s pocket and read it. Apparently, Hilda was going to sleep at a friend’s house, and Johanna thought it would be a great opportunity to invite the librarian over for dinner. Well, Maven couldn’t say she disagreed, even though she quite liked Hilda’s presence and had eaten with the two of them many times.

She had to admit she felt very honoured with the invitation. Of all the people Johanna could ask to spend Valentine’s Day with, she chose her. Of course, Maven was under no illusion that this wasn’t a “we’re both single so let’s hang out together” sort of event, but the woman had other friends. To be her first option felt like a victory of sorts.

Her phone went back to her pocket, and so did the love letter. She turned the volume of her earphones up, humming under her breath and anticipating the night’s encounter.

The note, however, was completely forgotten.

_#_#_#_

She heard that people would often gift their friends on Valentine’s Day, especially if they didn’t have a significant other. It wouldn’t be weird, she told herself as she held a long stemmed rose, one with yellow petals with orange tips, and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, waiting for Johanna to answer to her knocks.

When the door finally opened, Maven’s first reaction was to smile and try to form the words “good evening”. But she failed miserably at that simple task. As soon as the librarian caught sight of how beautiful Johanna looked, with a pink dress and a dark yellow sweater, Curls loose and apparently even more shiny than usual, she was rendered incapable of speech.

Damn, she really should have stopped home to change.

“Maven! I’m so glad you came!” Johanna chirped, being her usual happy self, even though Maven has the subtle feeling that there was something nervous about her today. Was that a blush on her cheeks?

“I brought this.” Maven said and lifted the rose to Johanna, in an attempt to salvage the situation and avert the woman’s attention from the fact that she’d been admiring her.

And now it was definitely a blush on Johanna’s cheeks. She stared at the rose just long enough to make Maven wonder if she’d screwed things up before muttering a soft “oh”, and raising her hand to take the rose from her fingers. 

She ran her fingers through the petals for a short moment, but then she looked up sharply at her friend, a small crease between her brows. “Did you get my-“

“Text?” Maven finished for her. “Yeah, I did. Thank you for inviting me over, Anna.”

She blushed even harder, though Maven felt that this time it wasn’t the good sort of blush. “It’s nothing.” She said with her eyes cast down upon the rose again.

Then she seemed to remember something and looked up once more, moving away from the doorway. “Come on in! I’m making us pasta!”

The librarian followed her lead and entered the house, hanging her cape on the coat rack by the door while Johanna closed it again.

“That’s not very fair. You invite me over _and_ cook for me? You should have at least told me to buy the ingredients!”

Johanna chuckled at her silliness, looking at Maven with open affection on her face.

“Oh, Maven, you brought yourself!” She tilted her head to the side. “And that’s more than enough.”

_#_#_#_

The librarian hadn’t imagined Johanna would be such a great cook, but she was. Maven had eaten all she could without being considered impolite, and promised that one day she’d repay the woman by cooking one of her mother’s dishes for her. Johanna had looked excited with the idea, so Maven was already making a mental list of things that would need to be bought for the occasion.

After they finished, Maven insisted on helping with the dishes, to which Johanna protested tirelessly, even as they let go of their cardigans and washed the cutlery together. She argued that she could do that later, but the librarian had none of it. Eventually, Johanna accepted her fate and began telling Maven about her day and her work projects.?

“What about yours?” She asked when she was finished, taking a freshly washed pan from Maven’s hands in order to dry it.

“Oh, it was normal. I’m reading this very interesting book, though…”. Just as she began to say it, she remembered something even more interesting to talk about.

“No, wait! Something did happen. I got an anonymous love declaration!”

Johanna seemed to begin to scrub the pan more vigorously at that. “Oh, really?” She asked, her voice sounding somewhat strained.

“Yeah, it was in one of the books. Really smart idea, but kind of… annoying, you know?”

Johanna cleared her throat and crouched down to store the pan away in the cupboard under the sink. “You didn’t like it, then?” She asked, sounding sad though Maven couldn’t guess why.

“It was… cute, I guess. I liked the way it was worded. But in the society we live in.” She shrugged. “It was probably a man. I’m not interested.”

She heard a sharp intake of breath from beside her and wondered if perhaps she shouldn’t have said that. She had never talked to her friend about her orientation, but that was mostly because the matter had never come up. She trusted Johanna would be very accepting of her, but she could’ve just made a serious mistake.

“So you… like girls, then?”

She pretended to be very interested in the fork she was washing instead of looking at her. “Yeah, I do.”

She felt Johanna’s eyes burning her face, the woman having stopped what she was doing to look at her. Yes, this had probably been a mistake. She should have kept silent. Trying to make herself look smaller, she asked “Is there any problem?” And lifted her gaze to Johanna, only to be completely astonished at the sight of a shining smile on her face.

Johanna chuckled, but then she seemed to notice the state of distress in which her friend was in. She took the librarian’s wet hands in her own, making her drop the fork into the sink, and stepped even closer.

“Of course there isn’t, Maven.” She said, hints of laughter still on her speech. “This is… this is the opposite of a problem.”

Before Maven could even process what was going on, Johanna’s lips had found her and her mind had gone completely blank for everything except the feel of them pressed against each other. When they pulled back a moment later, their lips were still tingling with the gentle touch. 

Maven’s gaze switched between Johanna’s smiling face and their joined hands, still trying to understand what was going on when Johanna sighed in exasperation. 

“Maven?” She asked, making sure that the librarian’s focus was on her words. “Do you know what is the meaning of the rose you brought? Yellow with orange tips?”

She blinked at the unexpected question and tried to think back to what the florist had told her, and then blushed when she did remember. “Excitement, energy, and… friendship deepening to love.”

She lowered her gaze once more, fully expecting Johanna to say “sorry, but this was a mistake” any time now. But instead, Johanna gently lifted her head with a finger under her chin, drawing her attention to her warm, brown eyes.

“I was the one who wrote the note.” She whispered into her lips, right before she kissed her again.

Oh. 

That really was the opposite of a problem.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy late Valentine’s Day, you guys! <3


End file.
